Hyde out as Mashpee schools chief

School Committee announces 'amicable' agreement with superintendent to end employment

Cynthia McCormick @Cmccormickcct

MASHPEE — Brian Hyde is no longer superintendent of Mashpee schools.

After a 4½-hour closed-door meeting Thursday night with Hyde and his attorney, a weary-looking Mashpee School Committee issued a statement that the board and Hyde had "amicably agreed to end their employment relationship."

"The parties will work through counsel over the next days to memorialize their agreement in writing," the statement, scribbled on lined yellow notebook paper and issued just after midnight, said.

Hyde, who was present as the committee returned to a brief public session to read the statement, hugged a few members of the audience and quickly departed.

The committee made no comment about the search for a new superintendent. Assistant Superintendent Patricia DeBoer has served as acting schools chief since Nov. 5, when Hyde was placed on paid administrative leave. Hyde was paid about $154,000 a year.

About 20 people had gathered in the cafeteria of Quashnet Elementary School on Thursday night, waiting for word on Hyde's future.

Hyde arrived with his attorney Mark Gildea at the start of the 7:30 p.m. School Committee meeting, which almost immediately went into closed-door executive session.

Committee Chairman Don Myers told members of the public attending the session that they could wait in the school cafeteria until the board reconvened in public session.

“There may be a vote if it is needed as a result of deliberations,” Myers said.

The crowd included Mashpee Selectman John Cotton, who is the liaison to the School Committee.

Hyde was on the hot seat for a Sept. 29 visit to the Windsor Way home of Marilyn King to confirm the residency of her daughter. He was acquitted of trespassing charges in connection with the incident, but his future as the head of the Mashpee public schools remained in question as the School Committee met to consider his employment status.

In the nearly five months since Hyde made his visit, the committee has dealt with a host of issues, from the criminal case against the superintendent to its own reorganization.

On Feb. 17 Judge Mary Orfanello ordered a Falmouth District Court jury to acquit Hyde of charges of misdemeanor trespassing and breaking and entering to commit a misdemeanor, saying there was no evidence he was forbidden to enter the home directly or by means of a posted notice.

King had accused Hyde of entering her home uninvited while her daughter Isabel, now 18, was at Mashpee Middle-High School trying to re-enroll after spending several months in Florida.

Hyde admitted he entered the house and climbed the stairs leading to a second-floor bedroom, but he said he was invited into the residence.

Hyde wrote a letter to the editor of several media outlets Feb. 18 — a day after his acquittal — expressing sorrow over the ordeal and making plans to return to work a changed, more reflective man.

Controversy is nothing new to the superintendent.

Plucked from the teaching ranks in May 2013 to head the district after the School Committee withdrew an offer to a veteran superintendent, his appointment raised both ire and enthusiasm.

At first the enthusiasm ruled the day, as Hyde was given a three-year extension to his two-year contract only six months into his tenure.

Although some praised Hyde’s energetic leadership and credited him with a rise in standardized test scores, others called him a bully and questioned why his only prior administrative experience — as assistant principal at Mashpee Middle-High School — lasted about a year.

Other issues followed. Hyde came under scrutiny earlier this year by claiming a doctorate on his LinkedIn profile — a credential that has since been changed on the online professional networking site to Ph.D. candidate.

And one of Hyde’s most fervent supporters, Mashpee School Committee member Scott McGee, was removed from his position as chairman of the five-member board Jan. 20 after refusing to release the results of an independent investigation into the home visit. A day after McGee was replaced, the committee made the report public.